


I Can See No Way

by LonelySparrow



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, elf!Niall, mystical elf - Freeform, some sort of fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 02:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelySparrow/pseuds/LonelySparrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is an elf. Zayn meets Niall. They find out what they've been missing with the help of some friends and the Dark Trinity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can See No Way

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Do not show this to anyway affiliated with One Direction, any members of One Direction, etc. This is just a story for fun. It's not serious or anything so don't get me sued. Good talk.
> 
> So I don't know. This is the longest thing I think I've ever written and published somewhere. I've had this thing toying around in my head for days. I finally got most of it written out and finished it like... point two seconds ago. I didn't really edit it so there's probably a lot of mistakes. Sorry. There's a possibility that I will come back to this verse cause I really like it and I feel like there are some more things that could be said and or written. Anyway, ZIALL! :]

He can hardly open his eyes. They’re far too dry with sand in the corners. He tries to scrub them clean with his hands but they’re covered in sticky mud as well. He breathes a sigh out through his lips and sits up, head aching and throbbing along with his pulse. An audible groan slips out of his dry, cracked lips and he runs his pink tongue over them to sooth the slight burn. 

He can’t decide what time of day it is. It’s dark, but he thinks it is just from the storm clouds overhead. Rain is falling steadily around him, soaking through his tunic and pants and into his skin and freezing his bones. He shivers and tries to get a bearing on his surroundings.

What happened last night and how did he get here? He feels a bit like he does after a long night of drinking, but he can’t remember if he visited the pub or not.

The forest is quiet around him. Rain is the only sound he can hear besides the occasional chirp of a bird or clack of branches scratching against each other. He looks down at his attire. He’s covered in mud; finds that it is all over his clothes and matted in his hair. 

He heaves another sigh and gets up. He can’t just sit here in the rain all evening.

He stands up and lets his joints crack before glancing down the road. He’s a bit lost. He can’t determine which direction he should go in, finally deciding that if he moves off toward the right he should be heading back toward town. He thinks?

The sky has darkened and the rain is falling heavier now. As he moves along the path, he realizes that he has no weapon and he could be attacked quite easily. Just his luck though, as soon as he grasps this, the sound of thudding hooves invades his ears.

He peaks over his shoulder, but with the dark and the drifting fog from the rain, he can’t make any figures out. Quick on his feet, he jogs off the path and nestles himself down on the opposite side of a very large, fallen and rotting tree trunk. The thudding sounds get louder and louder until they’re nearly on top of him before a voice calls out a soft ‘woah’ and the thudding slows to a stop.

Through a small, coin-sized crack in the log, he can make out a gray horse and a cloaked figure sat atop the animal. The horse’s breath fogs the air and the figure lowers his cloak. 

Zayn sucks in a breath, trying to quiet his breathing but he’s also a little overwhelmed by the young man before him. 

He’s got a shock of blonde hair, so white and bright that he’s nearly glowing there in the middle of the dark green forest. He’s wearing dark pants and dark boots, but he’s got a bright, emerald tunic on and the color makes his eyes appear a brighter blue. On the boy’s back is a quiver of arrows and a bow. The boy dismounts the horse and stands on the side of the path and Zayn can see how small he is. He’s thin and short and Zayn thinks of all those stories his grandfather used to tell him about leprechauns and the bright children of the green north or something like that.

The man chuckles and Zayn’s stomach turns to ice as he hears the boy call out in a soft, lilting voice, “Close, but ‘m not a leprechaun. I’m an elf.”

An elf? He thinks. He’s heard of elves before and enchanted beasts in the forests and dwarves and leprechauns and other beings but he’s never actually met one. 

“Yes, an elf. I have a friend that’s a leprechaun. Bloke’s name is Sheeran. Edward Sheeran. He’s a right laugh.”

And then Zayn realizes that the boy is reading his mind.

“You can come out from behind that log now. You’ll probably get twigs in your hair,” the lad comments with a snort.

Zayn stands up from behind the log and turns to face the elf. He takes in the boy’s appearance more fully now.

“Shouldn’t you have pointy ears?” Zayn sasses out.

The lad laughed again, and Zayn found that the sound was very musical and attractive. It had a funny lilt to it—an accent. He recalled stories of elves and remembered that his mother had said they were very musical, artistic, and they tended to be very in tune with nature. They could send messages through the wind and restore health to dying plants or something like that.

“Myth. Well, sort of. You get your pointy ears with age. You’ve gotta be at least a hundred before you get your ears. I’m only nineteen.” 

Zayn doesn’t say anything. He just stands quietly arms crossed defensively across his chest. If the elf made any sort of movements, he could probably run. He couldn’t get far, but he could get a bit of a head start before the lad could mount his horse again.

“Well now that I know your plan,” The lad laughed to himself again and Zayn kind of liked his bright, white smile. It was cute. “No, c’mon mate. Get on the horse.”

“What?” Zayn raises an eyebrow.

“Get on the horse. It’s pouring, and I’m cold, and there’s a pint o’ Guiness with my name on it back at home by the fire.” 

Zayn kept getting distracted by the accent. It rolled off his tongue and Zayn liked to watch the boy’s lips move and shape the words.

“Thanks. Not many people like the accent. They say they can’t understand me sometimes.”

“Could you please stop with the replying to things I haven’t spoken,” Zayn snipes out.

“Right, sorry.” The boy smirks and motions for Zayn to mount the horse, “Now let’s go. I'm going to freeze my bollocks off out here.”

Zayn had no reason to trust the stranger, but he had no other options. He could stand in the rain all evening and pray he didn’t get attacked by some wild beast in the night as he trekked back to town or he could take the offered ride and be back in town before dark.

The stranger climbed into the saddle first and offered his hand down to Zayn. Zayn’s dark fingers circled around the blonde’s wrist and he helped hoist the other boy into the saddle. Zayn sat there awkwardly. He didn’t really want to hold onto the stranger.

“It’s fine mate. C’mon, we’ve got ‘t get back before this rain picks up into a storm,” Zayn wraps his arms around the man’s thin waist and the stranger kicks the horse into a canter. 

“Who even are you?” Zayn asks aloud.

“I’m Niall. Niall Horan. You are Zayn Malik. You’re from the village of Bradford, but you’ve moved down here to work as a blacksmith. I work in the pub sometimes, and last night you came in. You met up with another lad and after talking for some time you left with him. I believe that man is part of the Dark Trinity. And if you didn’t know, we elves have been feuding with the Dark Trinity for ages now. They’ve taken something of ours and have yet to give it back.”

He paused, allowing Zayn to process this information.

“Anyway, you left with this man and I knew he was trouble so I followed you. He’s a time jumper though, and as soon as you were out the door, he’d gotten his arm around you and you were both gone into thin air. I’ve spent the night looking for you because I’ve got a friend who needs to take a look at your mind.”

“What? Look at my mind? Haven’t you done that enough already?” Zayn asked, water dripping into his eyes. He wished he’d had his cloak with him. 

“I can only read your thoughts. My friend can sift through your brain, even with the cloud of the alcohol from last night and the spell of the time jump. He can find out what the man said to you. Whatever it was, we think it’s really important. The elves need to know about it.” Niall replied, pulling the horse to the left to veer off the path and miss a giant puddle of water pooling in the center.

“Right.” Zayn didn’t fully understand, but he found that Niall didn’t seem all that threatening. 

*******************

“Where are we?” Zayn asked, bones and joints stiff from sitting on the horse for so long. Niall had halted the horse outside of an unfamiliar shop on the edge of the village. Niall made a noncommittal noise and grabbed Zayn just beneath his elbow, dragging him up the wooden steps and into what appeared to be a bakery.

They stopped just inside the doorway. Niall went over to a counter and began to search through a cabinet. Zayn barely noticed that the bakery was deserted, he was so distracted by Niall. The young man was clean, not a speck of dirt on him. Zayn was covered in mud head to toe, as was the horse just outside through the window and the dirty street and post it was tied to. Niall’s cloak was clean and his boots weren’t even dusty. Zayn snorted, thinking that it must be some sort of voodoo leprechaun magic.

“M not a leprechaun!” He huffed, still digging through the cabinet and facing away from Zayn, giving him a nice display of the muscles in Niall’s back. “We’re just passing through. I’ve got to get something and the mud thing—it’s an elf thing. We’re very attuned to nature, and we treasure and value it. Since we respect it, we were blessed with developing skills and powers and tricks long ago. Those traits have been passed through our blood for centuries. I move the mud away from me out of respect for it. The mud and dirt of that forest belong it that forest. That is it’s home. I didn’t want to drag it away here into town.” 

Zayn laughed out loud at that, not understanding at all and Niall whirled around, glaring at him.

He coughed and then awkwardly called out, “Sorry.”

Niall was moving off into another room, collecting things before returning. He settled some items down on a bench and pointed.

“Here. You can borrow some of these clothes. It’s a bit longer until we get to the elven city and you’ll want a change of clothes and to wash up. You’re filthy.”

Zayn jutted out his chin in defiance but Niall pushed him off toward a room in the back, clothes in hand.

“Hurry up. I want to get there before dark.” 

Zayn went into the small room, which was some type of spice pantry. He closed the wooden door and slipped out of his dirty clothes, wiping down as much mud as he could with his undershirt from before. Once satisfied, he pulled on a pair of pants that were a little big, slipped on a belt, a tunic and fresh socks and boots. When he exited the room, Niall was waiting, but he wasn’t alone.

“Who are you?” 

“I’m Darragh. Friend of Niall’s here. I’ll be riding along with you all.” Zayn nodded, unsure if he should shake the man’s hand or not.

He just accepted the cloak Niall held out to him and pulled it over him, flipping the hood up. Zayn was about to leave the shop, but Darragh stopped him with a hand on his elbow. He looked up into Darragh’s eyes and then suddenly, he was surrounded by blackness.

“What did you do!” Zayn panicked, heart hammering in his chest. He wobbled back and forth, reaching out for something. He couldn’t see anything. He was blind!

“Relax,” a warm set of calloused hands wrapped around his waist, “You’re all right. Darragh’s borrowing your sight. You can’t see how to get to the city. It’s dangerous. We still don’t know what you’re business was with the Dark Trinity. We have to protect our own; you understand.” 

Zayn didn’t feel any less nervous, but Niall’s hands were warm on his skin and he couldn’t do anything without his sight.

“But I don’t even-“ Zayn started to object as they tried to move out of the building.

“Shush, cheekbones. I don’t think you are really part of the Trinity, this is just a safety precaution. This is just temporary. Once we know your business with the lad from the Trinity was, you’re free to go. Til then you’re stuck with me.” Zayn could hear the smile in his voice.

They helped him up onto Niall’s horse and took off at a trot. Zayn listened to the sounds around him, trying to get a grip on the situation. Lacking sight set him off balance and he felt as if he’d fall from the horse any minute. 

“I won’t let you fall, I swear it.” Niall whispered, Zayn’s forehead resting between Niall’s shoulder blades. He couldn’t lift his head because he felt too off balance and dizzy. 

“Is that his gift?” Zayn asked verbally, even though he knew Niall could hear him thinking about it.

“Yes. All elves are blessed with a gift. We all share certain types of gifts, but everyone is blessed with one special one. We share things like aiding plants that are starting to die, sending messages through the wind, lulling dangerous creatures into sleep with song. But then we all are granted one individual gift. It’s somewhat based on our personalities. Darragh liked to collect things and when he developed his gift, he found that he could borrow people’s senses. Just one at a time though. He used to steal my sense of smell as a kid. I hated it. I liked smelling my mother’s breads and pastries in the shop. That’s where we were back there, me Mam’s shop. Dad’s a butcher and Mam works and owns the bakery. I have an older brother, Greg. He’s studying to be a doctor. He’s blessed with the gift of temporarily taking pain away. He can leech it out of his patients while he works on them. I was very quiet as a child. Very shy, but I was very curious. I developed the gift of reading thoughts.”

“Can you let me down?”

“Why what’s wrong?” Niall asked.

“I’m going to be sick.” Niall stopped the horse and I slipped off its back, clumsily. I was still blinded but it didn’t really matter because suddenly I was vomiting into the grass.

A cool hand touched my forehead, “Sorry. Should have gave you some tea or something. You’re having after effects from the time jump. Darragh borrowing your sight probably didn’t help either.” 

When Zayn was done, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and Niall helped him back on the horse.

********

“Surprised you didn’t know much about elves, mate,” Niall spoke after a while, breaking the peaceful silence, “Thought you would have learned that in school.”

There's an awkward pause.

“I didn’t finish school. I stopped when I turned fourteen. My grandfather passed away and my dad took over his job in the stables. He worked for a royal family there in Bradford, and since Dad was the next of kin, he had to take over my Grandfather’s job. I had to stop school to take care of my sisters and my Mum.” 

Niall didn’t say anything but he shook his head as some sort of sign that he had heard Zayn’s answer.

“We’re almost there,” Darragh called from nearby. Zayn listened around him to see if he could hear any noise of a village but it was eerily silent. He could hear the horse’s hooves, the soft wind blowing, and the birds singing but he didn’t hear anything else.

“Elves are very very good at moving silently.” Niall stated. The horse stopped beneath them and suddenly a small snck echoed around them.

The horse moved forward again and once the gate had closed behind him, Darragh returned Zayn’s sight.

It was extremely bright around him and he had to blink several times so his eyes could adjust. The place around him was extraordinary. Everything was made of white stone and gray rock, surrounded by bright, leafy green trees and golden accents. The buildings were small and square, but in the middle of the city, rising far above everything else was a massive tree. It appeared to be made of five trees that had somehow grown and twined together into one very massive tree. Surrounding the tree was a lake, and there was a great stone bridge leading to the middle.

“It’s incredible!” Zayn replied. He’d never seen anything more breathtaking.

Niall beamed, glowing like the sun.

“It is, now c’mon. Let’s get you something to eat and you can rest up. Sean will be round a little after dark to check your memories.” 

Niall dismounted from the horse, and Darragh lead it away leaving Zayn and Niall alone. The street was bustling with people. 

The street was clean and pure, no mud or sticks or leaves tainting the cobblestones. Elves moved about every which way, some carrying babies or leading children, others pushing carts or riding horses. They were smiley and happy and Zayn could see where Niall got his beautiful, sunshiney personality from. Even with the quick insight into their lives Zayn got to see, he could tell that the elves were very generous and cheerful people. 

As they neared the tree in the center, Niall took Zayn’s hand as the crowd thickened. Zayn held onto it for dear life, not wanting to be swept away. He found that the callouses in Niall’s hands were nice against his. He had warm hands and long, thin fingers. It was nice.

Niall smiled at Zayn and he flushed, remembering that Niall could read all of his thoughts. He coughed awkwardly and he found that Niall’s snowy skin was tainted with rose colored cheeks as well. 

They crossed the bridge and came before the great tree. Built into the tree were several rooms and buildings, doors built in the natural knots of the wood. Niall took him around to the side of the tree and he pushed open a door.

They came to stand in a small, circular room. There was a round table in the middle, with a decorative rug and several other rocking chairs moved around it. Niall motioned for Zayn to sit and disappeared through a door on the adjacent side of the room.

He returned with a bowl of soup and some bread, “Eat up. I’ve got to go unsaddle my horse, but then I’ll return and take you to your room.” 

Zayn nodded, waiting until Niall left before greedily shoving the food into his mouth. His stomach ached with hunger. He’d emptied all of the contents earlier in the day and he couldn’t remember when the last time he’d eaten before that was. 

Just as he was finishing the last of his bread Niall returned, smile blinding.

“Finished? I can take you to your room now. You’ll be staying here in the capitol tree. I’ve alerted the elders that you’re a guest here. Everyone’s a bit concerned about the Trinity, so I ask that you don’t really leave your room. The elves are very very kind people but when it comes to the Trinity we aren’t as gentle.”

Zayn nodded, and Niall lead him through the door he had just returned from. He lead him up some thick wooden steps and through some small hallways before coming to an emerald door with a golden tree painted on it. 

“Here you are.” Niall pushed open the door. This room was circular as well. There was a painting on the wall, some odd thing with three stripes in white, orange, and green. There was a guitar resting against a wooden wardrobe, and there were several pairs of boots scattered about along with some familiar looking tunics and cloaks.

“Is this…Is this your room?” Zayn asked. Niall giggled and nodded.

“Yeah. Used to be my room. I don’t stay here anymore. I live down at the village and work in the pub. I help Mam in the bakery sometimes, but mostly I play music for the pub and tend the bar.” 

“This is the capitol tree though right? So shouldn’t like the royals live here?” 

Niall blushed, “Yeah. Uhm, my Grandpa’s the leader of the elders, so he’s like a king. So that makes me a sort of Prince, beneath my Pop of course.”

“Oh.” Was all Zayn could manage.

“Anyway, feel free to make yourself at home. I’m afraid it’s a little messy. Last time I was here, the boys and I all stayed here and got a bit drunk and trashed the room a bit.”

“It’s okay.” Zayn replied, smiling at Niall’s blushing face. He admired the freckles on Niall’s cheeks and the way the blue in his eyes caught the light from the window and then he suddenly thought of sizes of horse shoes and the weight of his anvil, hoping Niall didn’t realize he had been thinking of the boy again.

Niall smiled and then went to exit the room.

“Where will you stay?” Zayn asked curiously.

“I’ll bunk with Sean. Don’t worry. I’ll be round later. It’s best you get some sleep. When he sifts through your memories, it takes a lot out of you. You need your strength.” And with that, Niall closed the door and was gone.

Zayn shucked off his boots and his cloak and flopped onto the bed. He curled up in the middle, pulling the soft, jade green blanket around him.

**************  
“Sean, ease up. He’s going to pass out.” Niall’s voice echoes around Zayn’s head. He’s so so tired, but he’s got to stay awake Sean had said. He had come into the room with Niall by his side just after the stars had climbed into the sky. He had explained to Zayn that he’d be fine, but he had to stay awake or Sean wouldn’t be able to find anything.

“It’s fine Niall. I’m close. There’s something here but it’s buried. One of the Trinity must have cast a memory spell or something.” 

“Sean, his eyes are rolling back,” Niall’s voice sounded worried, and Zayn felt a hand curl around his own.  
“Sean.”

“Sean!”

“Sean, you’ve gotta stop!” Zayn felt like he was floating on a boat in the sea. Everything rocked around him, and he thought he heard Niall’s voice fading off into the distance. Everything was warm and soft around him, though. He could fall asleep forever like this.

“Niall! Give me a minute! I’m almost there!” 

“He doesn’t have a minute! You’re going to kill him! Please stop!” Niall sounded desperate, his voice high-pitched and thick with emotion.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Zayn hears but now his stomach is rolling and his head seems to be spinning. He feels like the air is being sucked out of his lungs and then he’s falling. Falling. Falling.

Everything is enchanting and wonderous and he feels like he’s flying and everything is beautiful and then he slams back into his body he proceeds to cry out in pain. His head aches, worse than he’s ever felt it. Worse than all those times he drank too much and was sick all day the next day. Worse than that time he tripped and smashed his head on a cabinet in his mum’s kitchen. Worse than when he fell from his pony when he was six and smacked his head on the cobblestone floor in the stable.

“It hurts,” I groan.

“Shh, I know. It’s okay, Z. It’s okay, just relax.” Niall says softly. His cool fingers touch Zayn’s head and it’s burning far too hot.

“Niall, my head’s going to explode!” Zayn cries out.

“Shh, it’s okay. I know, it’ll stop soon.” Somebody’s picking him up now, whispering comforts in his ear. He’s being carried away and then he’s settled on something very soft.

A cool cloth is placed on his head, and the shrilling, piercing ringing in his ears has finally dulled to a low hum. Somebody settles beside him, but Zayn can’t open his eyes.

“It’s okay now, Z. Go to sleep. Just rest,” The person stands but Zayn reaches out, arms grasping air for a moment until they settle around a bony, thin wrist.

“Please, don’t. Stay. Stay.” 

“Z, I should g-“

“Please. Just stay.” 

Boots scuffle across the floor and then there are several thuds until someone is radiating warmth beside Zayn and he rolls his shivering body across the bed and tucks himself against it. Something curls around him and noses at his hair, before an arm comes to rest around his waist. Zayn closes his eyes and drifts away.

 

******  
“You nearly killed him!” Someone is half whispering and half yelling.

“Niall, we had to see what he was up to! I couldn’t just ignore this and let it go. Besides, he seems fine!” 

“You call sleeping for two days straight, fine!?” Niall spits out.

Someone huffs and then the voices drop a bit lower, “He’s alright Niall. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry. I know he means a lot to you.”

The voices move away and Zayn drifts back to sleep.

He comes to a short while later. This time somebody is humming an unrecognizable tune quietly. He can hear soft plucks of guitar strings and when he opens his brown eyes, he finds that Niall is sitting in a chair in the corner playing guitar softly.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you,” Niall says, realizing that Zayn is awake.

“You didn’t.” Zayn admires the way Niall’s hair is. Today its pushed up on his head in a little quiff. He’s wearing black pants and a blue tunic. He’s got socks on, but no boots. He’s curled around the guitar like it’s a lover, hands resting on the neck softly. 

“I’ve been playing since I was ten. My parents thought music was my gift for the longest time,” Niall smiled, speaking softly after a pregnant pause.

Zayn sat up, pushing the covers down off of his bare chest. The room felt stuffy, but not as burning hot as he had been the previous two nights.

“You remember right? You know your parent’s names, your sisters, your name, right? The city you were born? Your job? The village? Your grandfather? The tree capitol? Me?” Zayn nods after each pause, but when Niall asks if he remembers him, Zayn can hear a hint of fear in Niall’s voice.

“Yes, Niall. I remember everything.” Niall lets out a relieved sigh, resting the guitar back by the wardrobe and coming to sit beside Zayn on the bed. He reaches up, but pauses.

“May I?” He asks, hand paused in the air. Zayn nods and Niall rests his fingers against Zayn’s forehead.

“You’re fevers finally broke.” 

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

The room is silent again and there’s some kind of memory niggling at his brain but he can’t recall it.

“Sean’s never erased anyone’s memory before, but he went pretty far with yours. He’s never done that much before. I was…scared.” Niall admitted. Zayn chuffed out a small chuckle.

“It’s okay. I’m alright.”

“I watched your dreams!” Niall let out in a rush, blushing a dark red.

“You did?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I was bored and your dreams were…interesting. I normally don’t--do that. But uhm. Your dreams are really nice. They’re soft and warm and kind. Some people’s dreams are hard and sharp and you don’t want to be there, but yours were a nice change. They were very…comforting. It’s like synesthesia. Dreams are like, tangible things. I can feel them with my senses when I see them.”

“I see.” Zayn says, staring at his hands, “What did I dream about?”

Niall was very quiet before whispering out almost inaudibly, “Me.”

“I’m. I—“

Niall was leaning forward across the bed. Hand coming to rest on Zayn’s hip, the other slipped underneath his right arm and long fingers resting on his collar bone. He paused, waiting. Zayn could pick out all of the colors in his eyes. He wish he were a poet or an artist so he could capture their beauty. There were yellows and greens, grays and blacks and many, many shades of blue. They were enchanting and capturing and Zayn felt like he were trapped in them. But in a good way. The best way.

He leaned forward, pushing his lips against Niall’s. They both sat frozen before they both moved to slot against each other more comfortably. Zayn’s hands came up to rest on Niall’s face, one on his cheek and the other curled in Niall’s glowing blonde hair. When they broke apart they were both panting and Zayn shyly looked over Niall’s shoulder, staring at the specks of dust floating in the long shafts of sunlight.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. Since you moved to the village. I’ve been watching you in the pub for ages, hoping I’d get the courage to talk to you. I was so close to saying something that night. I was going to come over and offer you a drink or a walk but Harry beat me to it. I didn’t even realize he was part of the trinity until he was leaving and I saw the marks on his skin and cloak.”

He paused, hand stroking down Zayn’s spine and nearly causing him to shiver.

“I went outside to make sure that Harry wasn’t going to abduct you or something but just as I pushed open the door, I saw you sucked into space with him. I had to sift through travelers memories from town, hoping somebody had caught a glimpse of you. I looked all night, and finally some old woman coming in a carriage from Doncaster had thought she spotted the curly haired minx in the forest.”

“And then Sean. Sean nearly went too far, Z. I thought he was going to kill you. You were sick for a few days after. You slept all the time and you were burning hot. I thought I was going to watch you die before I even had the chance to tell you that I thought you were beautiful and ask you to have a drink with me.”

Zayn remained silent, letting Niall finish. 

“He found in your memory though, that you’ve been visited by each of the Trinity. Louis, Liam, and Harry. They kept casting memory spells on you, though. They were after you, and were convinced that you knew our secrets because they knew I liked you. They thought because I was keep close tabs on you, that you knew something. I’m sorry I put you in danger.”

Zayn shook his head and pushed his lips against Niall’s. Zayn pushed Niall back on the bed and came to straddle his hips. He pressed a kiss to the corner of Niall’s mouth, and then his nose and then his eyelids before kissing his chin.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Niall Horan. The moment I saw you I knew I liked you. Because those three have messed with my memory so much, I can’t remember all the details of the times in the pub we talked, but I can remember some now. Some where I sat right at the bar and you’d sit beside me even though you were supposed to be working and you’d touch my shoulder and giggle jokes in my ear. I’m sorry I forgot all of those times.”

“Shh, it’s okay Z. It’s okay. I’m glad you remember that we had met. That’s all that matters,” Niall leaned up to kiss Zayn, but he missed and bumped his lips into Zayn’s chin.

“You’re all better now, Z. It’s alright now. For a while there I was concerned you really were a part of the Trinity and I thought I’d have to give up on you forever. I couldn’t let you harm my family or my friends or any of the elves.”

“Shh, Niall. It’s alright. I understand. Just kiss me.” Zayn smiled.

And Niall did. Niall had waited far too long to let Zayn go now.


End file.
